Flashback
by Charlotte O CATS KOTLC
Summary: Flashback (KOTLC book 7) by Lorelei and Charlotte. Mystery ship! Major Nightfall spoilers. Rated T just in case.
1. AN

I am not Shannon Messenger, so I do not own Sophie, Fitz, Biana, Dex, Keefe, Tam, Linh, Sandor, Grizel, Ro, etc. I am also writing this with my friend Lorelei, so she has been helping too.

This is not a real book, this is only a Fan Fiction, but please please please do not copy my and my friends' work. Also, I will most likely post irregularly, because my friends and I all need to approve before the stories go online.

Thank you,

Charlotte O. CATS KOTLC, and all my friends!


	2. Preface

**Preface**

Sophie grabbed those hand, the hands of whom she loved, for her life was complicated in ways she could have never expected. The secrets, all of their secrets, rested on her shoulders.

Sophie looked back, to see the black-cloaked puppets and their masters, gaining speed. How many lies were there?

One lie.

Two lies.

Three lies.

Wait. No. Two lies.

Lies, truths, something in between, Sophie didn't understand. Understand what? She didn't understand any of it. Everything was blurry. So blurry.

He wasn't that bad after all. No, not he, they. _They_ weren't bad.

Sophie looked down into the inky blackness. She nodded to her friends, and jumped, pulling them with her. What would happen next? What would be the next chapter in the story? She didn't know. After what they just uncovered - that beautiful, deceiving staircase? The friend, who wasn't really just a friend? The brothers? So many misunderstandings. So many, Sophie couldn't count.

Dark and light.

Light and dark.

Fire and water.

Water and fire.

So different, yet so much the same. So many of these pairs.

Sophie focused on the words that had flip-flopped her life the most.

 _Together._

 _Apart._

 _One._

 _Many, and many more to come._


	3. Chapter 1

**Hi people! Thank you so much for reading. Here is chapter one!**

 **ProjectMoonlark101: Thank you for being our first review! We have a couple more chapters awaiting you and are working on some now.**

* * *

 **1**

"Alvar quit the act now!" Fitz screamed. He was the first to speak as the words bounced off the small, echoey room, amplifying the noise.

"AAAAGH!" Alvar yelled in pain as he thrashed against the bonds.

"Is he alright?" asked Mr. Forkle.

"How could you ask that? A traitor like him deserves it," Fitz answered. He looked at Sophie, silent, staring, and leaning against the slimy wall. Keefe stood next to her, with his hand on her shoulder. Alvar was Fitz's brother, who had joined the Neverseen, an organization planning to wipe out the human race. The small, damp, humid room was under a swamp and contained some of Sophie's best friends. Alden, Fitz and Alvar's father, stood, with knitted brows, next to Mr. Forkle, looking at Physic. Physic was the Black Swan's physician, a rival organization against the Neverseen. Sophie, Fitz, and Keefe had recently joined with the rest of their friends.

"Can everybody stand back for a second?" Physic asked. Her many long, black, tiny braids were woven with jewels. Real jewels. This was the Elvin world. A world unknown to humans. Everyone was beautiful and powerful, with riches no humans could imagine. Physic reached into her medical bag and got out her candles, balms, and other medicines. Alvar screamed and screamed as she grabbed out one last thing. A vial of silver liquid. Sophie flinched. A sedative. Ever since she and her best friend Dex had been kidnapped by the Neverseen a few years ago, Sophie hated sedatives. "Can someone hold him down?" Physic asked.

"I-I can," Alden mumbled. His crisp accent was dimmed when he looked at his eldest son. They all had the same accent. His daughter, Biana, was Sophie's age, and Fitz was two years older. Both of them were good friends, but they both had a hard time when they figured out that their older brother, the one to look up to, was with the Neverseen. Alden held Alvar down with the help of Mr. Forkle, as Physic poured the sedative down Alvar's throat, and he calmed down to the point that he looked like he was sleeping. Sophie looked away.

"Does the Neverseen have an enhancer?" Sophie was surprised when she heard her voice. So quiet. So unsure. Most elves had an ability. A special power. Enhancers could make other's abilities stronger, better. Sophie was an enhancer.

"Why?" Multiple people asked this, Mr. Forkle's voice the strongest.

Sophie gulped, remembering her human family. She wasn't actually related to them, but she had thought she was. Even though they were a family of light-eyed brunettes, and she was brown-eyed and blonde, they thought she was theirs too. Fitz had come to retrieve her, as the "long-lost elf" even though she had just been gone for twelve years. Sophie was the Black Swan's creation. Sophie had no idea who her real parents were, but she did know that both of them anonymously donated their DNA to the Black Swan, mixed them, tweaked her genes to make her more powerful, and inserted Sophie's embryo into Sophie's human "mom".

"When Damel erased my human parent's memories, he said that with the enhancing, the memories were gone. Not just buried, gone." Sophie's human parents had been tortured for "research" by the Neverseen. Her "sister," Amy, had avoided being kidnapped and spent a few months with Sophie. Amy had decided not to have her memories erased, because when the washer, the memory eraser, had found that there were no possible triggers to remind her parents of their horrible times. With Sophie's help, Damel was able to completely wipe all the memories of Sophie from their minds, when usually, telepaths could only bury the memories. Buried memories were retrievable, wiped ones were not.

Keefe looked at Sophie, and Sophie nodded. "Not that I know of," he said. "They don't seem to have too many members." Everyone looked at Alvar after he said that.

"Can I search his memories?" Sophie asked Mr. Forkle. He sighed.

"I knew you were going to ask that at some point. Fitz? Could you go with her?" Fitz reluctantly trudged to Sophie as she jogged over to Alvar, trying not to stare at his bloody scars and rashes.

 _Okay. Are you ready?_ Sophie transmitted to Fitz. Sophie was also a telepath, so she could read other's thoughts, and she could speak directly into their minds. Alden, Fitz, and Mr. Forkle were also telepaths.

 _No. I never am,_ he transmitted back.

 _But can you do this?_ Fitz looked at her, hesitated, then slowly nodded.

"Can I enter your mind?" Sophie asked out loud.

"Yes," Fitz answered. They stepped toward the small cot in which Alvar was being held on. They placed their hands on his temples.

 _Three… Two… One,_ Sophie transmitted as they plunged their consciousnesses into Alvar's mind.

* * *

 **What will they find? Will he remember? Or will he not?**


	4. Chapter 2

**Yay! The second chapter is here, and the third is coming soon… We love the reviews that we're getting! Thank you so so so so so much for reading.**

 **ProjectMoonlark101: I'm sorry, but we're just too evil. There will be many, many more. Worse ones too! ;) (Muah ha ha ha *evilly cackles*)**

 **ExplodingBananas: Thank you, and we'll try to get those sentences longer.**

* * *

 **2**

Alvar's mind was like the gritty water when Sophie, Fitz, Dex, Biana, and Keefe first went to Alluveterre, a now-abandoned Black Swan hideout when they first joined the Black Swan. To Sophie, Alvar's mental defenses felt like one of the ekodons that they rode on at the bottom of the ocean.

 _I'll keep you steady,_ Fitz transmitted.

 _Thanks,_ Sophie responded. _This feels weird._ Her heart fluttered, feeling Fitz's mental energy. Even though they were Cognates, a rare telepathic connection helping them be stronger together, Sophie still hadn't yet admitted that she liked him. She'd been crushing on him since the beginning, with that field trip. She worried that if she admitted it, it would ruin their Cognate connection, even though with Cognates, the ultimate goal was no secrets.

Together, Fitz and Sophie slipped past Alvar's defenses and into his memories. _It's different, to see yourself in someone else's memories,_ Fitz transmitted as they drifted past memories of himself, Alvar and Biana playing together, Fitz as a kid looking up to Alvar… Sophie couldn't help but wonder if the right decision could be to continue on her own, without the added risk of putting her friends in danger.

All of a sudden, Alvar's mind shook, bringing Sophie back from her thoughts. The memories swirled around her, making Sophie dizzy. _What was that?_

 _I think his unconsciousness is trying to hide something. We should follow the memories._ Fitz took Sophie's hand as they bounded into the whirlpool of images that was quickly forming and dove to the center. Sophie's heart fluttered again, but now was no time for that. She had to focus.

Fitz sent a rush of warmth through Sophie's mind, calming her nerves. She brushed past moving images of Fintan and Brant. Sophie felt Fitz shiver as a picture of Fintan calling the unstoppable flame, Everblaze, down from the sky flashed by them.

 _He's remembering,_ Sophie transmitted. She squeezed his hand a little tighter. _We're getting close. We're almost there._

And suddenly, there they were - with angry red memories flashing around them like a hurricane. A squeeze on the shoulder, what seemed like far, far away, told them that Alvar's emotions were getting crazy. Keefe had done the same thing with Prentice when Sophie searched and healed his memories. Prentice had gone through a memory break, hiding Sophie from the rest of the Elvin world, and they had only recently healed him, a thing that only Sophie could do.

 _Is this… something we're looking for?_ Fitz asked as a memory flew by.

 _I don't know what we're looking for. Near the time of his torture, right?_ answered Sophie. They watched Alvar try on his Neverseen cape for the first time. Midnight black, like an abyss. A white eye on the sleeve that had given Sophie nightmares many times. They felt his pride. Sophie pushed it away. _We should look at all of them,_ she commented.

 _Alright, you're the boss,_ Fitz answered. He and Sophie dove into the swirling memories. They saw The Boy Who Disappeared from Alvar's perspective. They saw him eating the horrid Neverseen food that Keefe described. They saw him torturing Sophie and Dex, fighting Keefe and Sophie with a trapped Alicorn, killing dwarves on Mount Everest. They saw Ravagog destroyed and Keefe's recruitment from Alvar's perspective. They saw Luminara, crashing and burning. They saw Alvar meet Vespera, the evil woman who tortured humans for research. They felt his awe and replaced it with disgust. Then, they hit a hard, black wall.

 _Push through,_ said Sophie, _three… two… one… go!_ They pushed through the barrier, to see a bright white light, then blackness, as they were unexpectedly pulled out of Alvar's mind.

* * *

 **Oooooooh! Why were they pulled out? How did Alvar remember? How could Alvar shove** _ **Sophie**_ **of all elves out of his mind? Also, sorry about it being kinda short, on Google docs it looks longer.**


	5. Chapter 3

**Hi readers! Here is chapter three for you. It is a bit weird, so please just go with it. We're still messing with the story's overview a bit, so the first ~10 chapters will most likely make not much sense. We've got 259 views and 4 reviews. Thanks for reading, and please review!**

 **ProjectMoonlark101: Hmm, I feel like I don't really think of it as cruel. I guess it's not** _ **that**_ **bad, but we just made it way worse by adding the A/N at the end. Sorry, and I hope that this cliffhanger is better.**

* * *

 **3**

Everyone was screaming when Sophie and Fitz stumbled back from Alvar. Sandor and Grizel, Sophie and Fitz's seven-foot-tall goblin bodyguards were in there too, making the space even more crowded. Sophie and Fitz stared blankly, not knowing what happened.

"What should we do?" someone asked.

"I'll notify the Black Swan," another said.

"I'll notify the Council."

"My baby! My baby!"

"Can someone fix it?"

"What happened?"

"Someone call Della!"

"Someone get Biana too!"

"Sophie, are you alright?" Everyone looked. That one was the loudest and the clearest, and Keefe had been the one to say it. But Sophie didn't have an answer, she had a question.

"What's going on?" Sophie asked.

"Alvar screamed, Physic examined him because the sedative had worn off so quickly, the Alvar started shaking violently and asking for Alden, then…" Mr. Forkle explained, "then… his mind broke."

Alden gave her the saddest half-smile Sophie had ever seen. Fitz rushed to Alvar's side, Alden joining her, holding each other like they were the only thing they could hold on to in their shifting, breaking, cracking world.

Sophie felt a tear slip past her cheek and hit the floor next to her Elvin-style traditional boots. She couldn't help thinking, _Why am I doing this? Why risk others' lives and sanity for what I think is best?_ She wiped it away with her shirt sleeve defiantly. _It's not my choice to make._ The one thing Sophie hated most about her life. She was risking everyone, not just her friends. She tried to think of it for a greater cause, but it wasn't as much that as it was _her_.

Sophie looked around, trying to see what everyone was doing. The Vackers were around Alvar, but, of course, Della was missing. Keefe was in the corner with Granite and the few other elves, and Sandor and Grizel were climbing back up the ladder with… Mr. Forkle?

"Mr. Forkle? Where are you going?" Sophie asked, but Mr. Forkle just looked at her.

"Up," he said. Sophie sighed. Mr. Forkle was known for being secretive and clandestine. He shoved his bloated body into the hole to get out. She thought back to the moment when he had died. But not. Mr. Forkle was two people. Well, technically, he was many. There were still more personas they didn't know about. When Luminaria fell, Mr. Forkle died protecting Councillor Oralie, a kind councilor who supported Sophie in everything. Though, it wasn't exactly Mr. Forkle who died, because Mr. Forkle had had a secret twin brother. He, or they, were geneticists, and also masters of disguise. Mr. Forkle was an astronomy teacher at the school where Sophie and her friends went. He was also the principal of that school and many more things that Sophie didn't know about. Sophie wiped her cheeks and leaned her head against the wall. She could hear someone approaching.

"Hey," Keefe said. "How are you doing?"

"I… don't know. All these crazy things are happening, and none of us know why," Sophie answered.

Keefe looked at her. "Hey, it'll be alright."

"Mr. Forkle would say something about that promise or whatever," Sophie said, smiling a bit.

Keefe chuckled and patted her shoulder, "Usually I'm the one to make jokes!" He looked around, smiling. "Hey, where is the Forklenator anyway? He's usually here when things happen, and he was here earlier."

"I know about as much as you do. He said he was going 'up.'"

"Yeah, that sounds like him," Keefe replied with a grin.

* * *

A few moments later, Mr. Forkle came back down with Biana and Della Vacker. "Mom!" Fitz cried while Biana rushed to hug her father, blinking in and out of sight as she ran. They merged together in a pile of their sobbing, grieving family.

Sophie wiped away a tear of her own and stepped forward, dwarfed in front of Mr. Forkle's hulking figure. "I'm going in."

Fitz pushed away from Alden and in front of Sophie. "No!" As he turned to Sophie, his face just inches from hers, she could feel his warm breath and see every salty teardrop that stained his face. "Sophie, it's too late for him. He's gone now." Fitz broke down with every word. "But it's okay. He deser—deserve—" He fell to the cold, stone floor, his wails echoing off the dimly lit walls, unable to say the words that the darkest corner of his heart spoke. Alden and Della rushed over, trying to calm Fitz as he shrieked uncontrollably.

Sophie startled as it came to her. One of Alvar's angry crimson memories. "Can I see Fitz for a second?" Della hesitated, then nodded. Fitz calmed as she took his hand and led him up the ladder

* * *

 **Whoa. Which of the memories stood out to Sophie, and why? Hint: it took place while Sophie was in the Lost Cities!**


	6. Chapter 4

**Hi readers! Shout out to ProjectMoonlark101 and MiraculousNikki (Why? Later.) We love the number of views we're getting! *we all squeal* We have *clears throat* five hundred, and one views! Yaaaaaaayyy! (I don't know why I wrote that number out all the way, just today I'm thinking loooong numbers for some reason.) We have four reviews, but none for chapter 3, so we can't respond to any. *puppy face and tears* Buuuuuuut, we DO have (drumroll please…) two followers, and one favorite! Thank you ProjectMoonlark101 for all of your support and yayness, by giving us three reviews, and following us! Yay ProjectMoonlark101! Also, MiraculousNikki (Thank you MiraculousNikki!) both favorited** _ **AND**_ **followed us! Thank you for all the love and support, readers!**

* * *

 **4**

Sophie held Fitz's hand tightly, as she searched for a non-muddy spot to sit. She pulled Fitz down to a small patch of brownish yellow grass.

"Why did you want to see me? " Fitz asked, confused, and still hiccuping a bit from crying.

"List all the memories of Alvar's that you remember," Sophie answered, even though it wasn't really an answer.

"Well… a few things from before Biana was born, some Neverseen stuff," Fitz explained, "oh and some things about Foxfire. More recent things like Mount Everest, too."

Sophie looked at him. "In more detail, please, or I could just search your memories."

Fitz turned beet red. "No! No, no, no, thank you."

Sophie looked at him and cocked her head. "Why?"

"Uh… no reason," Fitz stammered, turning away.

"You know we're Cognates, right? You have to tell me at some point."

"Okay, okay. I'll tell you later. You have a secret, too, so you'll have to tell me yours."

"Fine. Some other time, okay? Please?"

"Alright, alright. And when should that be?"

"Let's not discuss that right now."

"Just please make it soon!"

"Just get on with it. What did you see in Alvar's head?"

"Why can't you just tell me?" Fitz questioned, leaning in a bit.

"I want you to figure it out," Sophie argued.

Fitz rolled his eyes. "All right, all right, I'll list everything I can remember: the time just the two of us played base quest, when we were two and Biana was just a baby, the time he scolded Biana for playing base quest wrong, the time-"

"Please start from the time I was introduced to the Lost Cities," Sophie interrupted.

"Ugh. Alright," Fitz reluctantly told her, "Pushy," he whispered.

"So…" Sophie urged, shrugging and gesturing for him to answer.

"First can we switch to transmitting?" Fitz asked.

Sophie looked around, then transmitted: _Fine, can I enter your mind?_

 _So, first: when he tortured you and Dex, he felt like no mercy, and he was trying to kill you but Fintan kept telling him not to, and Brant gave him fire and he helped burn you,_ Fitz explained, but after he saw a tear trickle down Sophie's cheek, he paused and scooched in to comfort her.

 _Keep going,_ Sophie commanded while she hiccuped.

 _Okay. When he fought you and Keefe with Silveny, he also felt ruthless, and he didn't care when Lady Gisela got hit in the shoulder. Sophie, why didn't you tell me very much about that fight? I understand why you didn't bring me along, but… even after we made up, you didn't tell me anything,_ Fitz asked sympathetically.

 _S-sorry_ — she started.

"Sophie! Fitz!" a voice called from the hole in which the ladder was poking out of. Fitz instinctively jumped up and looked down into the ladder.

"We're fine," he called out loud, "we only need a few more minutes." He slowly shuffled back to Sophie and plopped himself down next to her.

"Alright," the voice called, "It's Tiergan, and we really need your help. Come down as soon as possible!"

"What were you saying?" Fitz asked.

 _Sorry… I just forgot to tell you,_ she responded, reminding Fitz to transmit.

 _Alright, back to the story of memories,_ Fitz said, jokingly, _during the battle on Mount Everest, he killed a dwarf and wounded_ — _what was it? Four… no five dwarves. When Ravagog was destroyed and Keefe's recruitment and Luminaria and… wait,_ Fitz looked around, his eyes widening. _Keefe's recruitment was a hoax._

That's _what I was talking about,_ Sophie transmitted.

* * *

 **Okay, you may know that we hate Keefe, but… we know that there are Keefe fans out there that are reading this, so we think it may make you feel better about our story. Also, Keefe's recruitment being a hoax ties into later in the climax… (Sorry, ProjectMoolark101, for the horrid, cruel cliffhanger!) But, you readers will find out** _ **why**_ **and** _ **how**_ **it happened… hm. We think we'll have it next chapter, but it might be in one of the later chapters. (We promise it will be in one of the next five chapters!)**


	7. Chapter 5

**OMG, WE'RE SO SO SORRY WE HAVEN'T POSTED IN SO SO LONGGGGGG!**

 **Sorry… we won't be able to tell you how Keefe never actually wanted to join the Neverseen until… chapter 7? You may figure it out in 6 though…**

 **This needs its own line: WE HAVE 1,000 VIEWS, 5 REVIEWS, ONE FAVORITE, AND TWO FOLLOWS! YAAAAAY! *we all do a happy dance***

 **ProjectMoonlark101: Never let your yayness stop! The more you review and follow and favorite and stuff, you will make this story get more views of happiness!**

* * *

 **5**

 _I don't understand,_ Fitz complained, _why or how Keefe was able to get away from the Neverseen._

 _Think harder about the memory,_ Sophie pushed, _the part where he made me leap away._

Fitz rolled his eyes. _Do you remember that I don't have a photographic memory?_

 _Oh… I guess I just forgot,_ Sophie sighed. _Is that even possible with a photographic memory?_

 _I guess so, but… you should ask Keefe and see if it happens for him, too._

 _Well, back to the Neverseen-Keefe thing. Do you want me to replay the memory for you?_

 _Maybe you could transmit it to everyone after we get back downstairs and see why they need us._

 _Okay, that works. If we're going to do that though, we should_ —

"Guys, we really need you!" Biana shouted in Sophie's ear after she appeared out of thin air. As a vanisher like her mother and eldest brother, Biana could turn herself invisible, and when Sophie was enhancing her, she could spread the vanish to her friends and whoever she touched. Sophie was also an inflictor, a teleporter, and a polyglot. She had no idea if she still had more abilities to manifest, but she tried to use the ones that she had to the fullest. "Please stop staring into each other's eyes so that you can help." Her beautiful face was streaked with tears, as was everyone's at the moment.

"Okay, okay, okay. What in the world do you need?" Fitz retorted, clearly annoyed.

"We need you to come downstairs. Alvar's being… a bit weird, and we think that the cognates might be able to help him!"

"We were just about to go down," Sophie told Biana calmly, as she stood up and stepped towards the ladder to climb down, Fitz and Biana trailing behind her. As soon as her foot could be seen from below, the group of people rushed over. "Why did you need me?" Sophie asked.

"Alvar sat up and—" Della started.

"—said something about—" Keefe tried.

"—something about family and—" someone said.

"—even though his mind was broken—" another clarified.

"—then he—"

"—but now—"

"Please stop, everyone!" Sophie shouted, getting everyone's attention. "I need one person to tell me what happened." A few people raised their hands, a few screamed: "Me!" and a few did both. Sophie looked around, overwhelmed. "Um… how about… Bi—"

"Okay, so first we were all near Alvar, then he abruptly sat up, and then he mumbled: 'family… Mom… Dad… Bian—' and then he fell back down and screamed, even though his mind was—is broken," Biana interrupted.

"We were thinking that maybe you two could help? You know with the whole mind-healing thing that you can do, Sophie?" Keefe added.

"I think we can do it…" Fitz murmured. Sophie noticed that Fitz was suddenly quite interested in his feet, and had a severely worried look on his face.

"Yes… yes, let's do it, Fitz!" Sophie expressed happiness and hope while saying this. She took Fitz's hand and led him over to the trembling Alvar. "Okay, remember, don't go in until I tell you that it's safe. Can I enter your mind?" Fitz shook while he nodded slightly. Sophie put her trembling fingers on Alvar's temples as Fitz grabbed her free hand tighter.

 _Here we go again,_ she transmitted.

 _Make sure that you stay safe. We really need you…_ I _really need you!_

 _I'll be fine. Just after my signal, please jump right in, to help me search. Oh, and actually, right after I give the signal, tell Livvy_ — _I mean Physic, to sedate him. It'll be easier to search his mind to find something that we need._

 _Okay,_ Fitz answered, his mental voice less stable than normal, as Sophie dove into the shards of Alvar's mind. She'd been in broken minds enough times that it was pretty normal for her. This time, it was all the same. Keefe's hand was lightly on her shoulder, Fitz was squeezing her free hand, and the fingers on her left hand was on Alvar's temples.

 _Normal, normal, normal,_ she thought as she wove through the shards of his mind. A face… Keefe's, just his eyes were in the wrong places, his skin was blue, and his lips were zig-zagged. Fintan, though his head was long and skinny, and his arms and legs were switched. Vespara was next to Fintan, but she was short and fat, and her body was distorted strangely. Then there was Everglen, the home of the Vackers. But Everglen was different, tall and sideways, and crude. It was pitch black, maybe obsidian in Alvar's broken head. Everything was wrong with everything. Skies, trees, people, and everything in between. A polka-dot-filled, pink, mossy forest, with a random, thin blue gateway with a circle above it that looked like it belonged in a different world entirely… of course, because she was inside of Alvar's unconscious, broken mind, everything in every memory was off, wrong, and made no sense to Sophie—but she was used to it. She ignored the rest of the broken, creepy, cold memories and she tried to find that trail of warmth, that she followed every time to heal elves, by going to the tiny bit that they had left and then inflicting positive emotions on it. Sophie was the only elf that could inflict positive emotions because of her modified, alicorn-inspired DNA. Alicorns could too, but there were only two alicorns in the world at the time—that they knew of. Another one was coming soon, though. Once she found the warmth, she rushed through the shattering memories, and then she sent Alvar images of the Vackers. Then, she thought of happy things, like riding Silveny, the time Fitz had shown her who she really was and when she had found out that Mr. Forkle wasn't gone after all. Her mind blossomed with a happy feeling, and she shoved it out of her mind and into Alvar's.

 _Done. Tell Physic. Come in,_ Sophie transmitted, careful to make sure Alvar didn't know what they were talking about. Alvar's memories were stitching back together, faster and faster. The memory that formed at the top was one that Sophie had never seen before.

 _Fitz, I think we need to check something out. After he's sedated, come in immediately,_ Sophie transmitted, because the memory was not from Alvar's perspective.

 _I'm here. Why?_ Fitz transmitted.

 _This memory is different. It's not Alvar's… it's Brant's._

* * *

 **This is kinda weird to put at the end, but how was your Halloween? If you read our KOTLC Reacts, you will know about everyone. Wellllll when Charlotte was trick-or-treating, she ran into Amethyst and some other friends! Yup, Yup, Yuppp! Okay! Time for you to guess what that last sentence meant! Goodbye, and see you next time! Amethyst had a great time with some of our other friends, and at the end of the evening she was surprised and delighted to meet Charlotte on the streets of her neighborhood! She got lots of candy and had lots of fun, and she saw loads and loads of great costumes! Lorelei also had fun trick-or-treating with her siblings!**

 **Charlotte was the very amazing Linh Song for Halloween!**

 **Lorelei was the super awesome Sophie Foster for Halloween!**

 **Amethyst was a beautiful Sparkly Rainbow Pegacorn for Halloween!**


	8. Chapter 6

**Hi! AAAAAH! We've been experiencing SERIOUS writer's block, so SORRY WE HAVEN'T POSTED IN SO LONG! We're super amazed about how many people like our story! 1,561 views!**

 **ProjectMoonlark101: We're so sorry! If it was possible, when you click on this chapter and read this, then extra Halloween candy would be flying through your screen. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (Also: in Social Studies we learned that the Pilgrims/Native American Thanksgiving is a MYTH!)**

 **Bop (Anonymous): Hi Bop! We really need to know who you are, because you are seriously being incredibly rude. I (Charlotte, the poster) did keep the "I saw this before it was posted, Ha!" but I deleted the review that was this entire chapter before it was posted. Oh, and friends, please PM me if there are any more offensive reviews. We love Fanfiction, but we are extremely disappointed by the mean-ness currently.**

 **Thank you, and on to reading!**

* * *

 **6**

 _The gates of Ravagog were no longer gates._

" _I'm guessing this is the part where you ask how we found you," Fintan said, he and Brant both holding spheres of Everblaze. The group of friends, stood, baffled as they stared at Fintan and Brant._

" _You keep forgetting that this was our plan from the beginning," Fintan added and Brant nodded. "Well_ — _not the flood. You managed to surprise us with that one. And you stopped us from infecting Brackendale and Merrowmarsh. But the rest has gone like clockwork."_

 _Biana stepped in front of Calla, defensively. "How could you do this to the gnomes? After everything they've done for the Lost Cities?"_

" _To expose the Council's lies," Brant said, struggling to remember his part of the script. "Now everyone knows how much they hide, and how little protection they truly give their people."_

" _Which accomplishes what?" Sophie asked. The Neverseen was expecting something like that. "All you've done is make people afraid."_

" _Indeed, Miss Foster," Fintan agreed, "because fear is the world's greatest motivator. Look at the power your group harnessed today as a result of your terror." Fintan's eyes moved to Keefe as he added, "That was your mother's mistake. She surrendered to her fear, and it cost her everything."_

" _Including her life?" Sophie asked._

" _Interesting that the question does not come from her son," Fintan noted._

" _That's because I don't care about her!" Keefe yelled._

 _Fintan smiled. "I suppose it wouldn't matter, then, if I told you she's currently locked in an ogre prison? And that your role in today's invasion surely earned her a death sentence?"_

" _You're lying," Keefe said, his voice cracking._

* * *

The conversation kept going, but Sophie already knew this part, she was there, and her photographic memory had already recorded it all. But… had Brant had a photographic memory too? He'd seemed to record this very precisely. Also, how did this get into Alvar's mind?

 _We need to skip to the part we haven't seen already,_ Fitz transmitted, reminding Sophie that their minds were still connected.

 _Okay, that's what I was just thinking._

* * *

 _Brant grinned, like the Cheshire Cat as he stalked over to Keefe in the reddish light. Keefe's face showed horror and nervousness, and Sophie, Fitz, Tam, Linh, Dex, Biana, and Calla were frozen in motion, like statues trying to run away, as Fintan coaxed the Everblaze into his hand and then_ — _slowly but surely, a wall of Everblaze grew behind Keefe's friends. Alvar was half-frozen, his lower body was stuck, but his upper body was moving around. He looked at his brother's friends, confused._

" _How did this happen?" he stuttered, dropping the giant silver chest, and flailing to pick it back up again. Fintan stalked over to pick it up, as Brant glanced over to a small clump of trees and gave a thumbs up. A face peeked out of those trees and grinned back. She had knee-length curly black hair, blood red lips, and an eerily pale face. Her ears had sharp, sharp points. She had a resemblance to… Sophie couldn't place it. She strode over to the trembling Keefe as he tried to slowly back away._

" _I am a chronakinetic!" she laughed. "A chronakinetic. The best elvin ability of all time!"_

" _Yes," Fintan cackled. "Yes, yes, yes. No! Pyrokinesis is FAR superior."_

 _The chronakinetic looked at Fintan, baffled. "Chronakinesis is better, you know that."_

" _Yes, fine," Fintan mumbled._

" _What do they do?" Alvar asked quizzingly._

" _Only the dimmest can't figure this one out!"_

" _I… don't… understand…" Keefe stuttered, then the chronakinetic shot out her hand and Keefe froze. A statue._

" _Come out, come out, Brother!" the chronakinetic shouted. A man with shoulder-length dark brown hair and equally sharp ears sauntered out from the shadows._

" _Umair, yes," Fintain cackled._

" _Yes, yes, Octavia!" the man_ — _Umair sang._

 _Fintan rubbed his hands together. "It's Keefe's turn!"_

 _Octavia unfroze Keefe's head._

" _Wh-what is happening?" Keefe stammered. He tried to move his unresponding body. Umair stalked over, then rolled up his sleeves._

" _It's time for another, Octavia. For Vespera!"_

" _For Vespera."_

 _Keefe screamed as Umair grew closer. His hands were raised and a vein bulged on his forehead. Keefe looked for an escape route, but he couldn't find anything. Then, his head jerked, looking towards the ground, and he fell over, his suddenly glassy eyes twitching, twitching, twitching, unconscious. Then, Umair and Octavia disappeared into the little amounts of foliage._

" _All done," Brant chuckled, rubbing his hands together. Moments later, Keefe stood up, his eyes still glassy. Then, suddenly, they became alive again. And terrified._

" _Positions," Fintan ordered and they both strode over to where they had started. Sophie's crew resumed motion. "That's quite enough of that," Fintan said, curling the fire into a circle, closing them inside a cage f Everblaze._

" _You can stop wasting your energy on water tricks," Brant told Linh. "You've complicated things enough already. Luckily, we've had eyes on you this whole time._

" _What does that mean?" Sophie asked._

" _It doesn't matter," Alvar said. "What do you want from us?"_

 _The two pyrokinetics shook their heads._

" _I told you, Mr. Vacker," Fintan said, "the charade is over. I spent weeks in Exile."_

* * *

Sophie had heard enough, and so had Fitz.

 _Wow, I didn't know that Vespera had siblings,_ Fitz noted.

 _Yeah, she seems so… alone,_ Sophie said. _I didn't know that Brant had a photographic memory._

 _I was noticing that too. Octavia is a chronakinetic, but… I'm not sure what Umair is. What does a chronakinetic do?_

 _I kinda have a theory,_ Sophie said, _when he was near Keefe, and he had that huge vein in his forehead… it kinda looked familiar to someone… that I've seen before… but I don't remember who._

 _Aren't you supposed to have a photographic memory?_ Fitz asked. _Because it seems like it's been a bit faulty lately._

* * *

 **Hi! Thanks for reading. Sorry, the next chapter will be longer. We promise. Also, Bop: DO NOT POST ANY MORE SPOILER REVIEWS OR WE WILL TURN OFF ANONYMOUS REVIEWING. Please. Please keep a kind place, we're counting on it. Also: UNICORNS AND CANDY AND RAINBOWS AND POSITIVITY! YAAAAAAAAAY Again:** **Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! (Also: in Social Studies we learned that the Pilgrims/Native American Thanksgiving is a MYTH!)**


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